Passing of a Friend
by history101
Summary: A kind of sequel to my other one shot 'Loose Ends', however it can be read as a stand alone fic. It's Joey's thoughts on the Pharaoh's passing.


A.N. I think Joey is an undervalued character, and this has been done probably a million times in some form or another, but I wanted to add in my two cents. I've been on holiday for a while and I wrote this really late at night, so forgive me if it's rubbish.

* * *

I miss the guy, what can I say?

I'd never been much of a deep thinker but when people said that you didn't know what you had till it was gone; it was so true.

I mean, how many people could say they knew someone who'd died 3,000 years ago. And not just anyone too; a pharaoh, the best of 'em. I wasn't much of a history buff or nothin', but any king who did what he did to save the world had earned the right to be called the best.

I don't really think we really paid much attention to the fact that he'd been a pharaoh though. Sure that's what we'd called him, but that's because we hadn't known his real name before. It wasn't until we went into his memories that it really sunk in, at least for me; one of my best friends was already dead, had been dead for 3,000 years.

In his memories the difference between Yugi and him had been clear, he was the...the all powerful...regal king. He'd looked and acted the part...and then we'd come back...and everything'd changed...forever. I think it had been the whole thing that had made Kaiba a believer, and that took some serious shizzle.

The Pharaoh hadn't really been his own person until then, he'd just been Yugi, or Yami, or pharaoh or just spirit of the puzzle. But I guess not remembering who you were, or where you were from, or who your friends and family had been would have that effect.

...But then, suddenly, he was Atemu, Pharaoh Atemu.

We'd all been there at the start, when we'd thought he was still Yugi, we'd been there when he suddenly became the spirit of the millennium puzzle, then he was Yami; a protector. He was powerful and clever, and I...respected him. I hadn't always been sure why though. It couldn't just have been because he was a king; rank and status hadn't ever meant much to me and I'd never shown respect to people because of them; ask Kaiba. But the Pharaoh was different.

I'd seen that he was as human as the rest of us, he made mistakes, he got angry, and though it hardly ever happened - he lost sometimes too. And it hit me in the face like a huge fist when I realised all that...We'd lost Yugi because of it. I think we all saw then that he wasn't some god that was always right; he wasn't all powerful...he made mistakes, like me or Tristan or Duke or anyone else out there.

Just as it had Mai, the Orichalcos had got the better of him, but he bounced back...it took a while but he did. He put everything right, he stopped the leviathan...if what Yugi told me was true, and I didn't doubt that it was. Yugi never lied.

But all that craziness, and boy, was I used to dealing with craziness in my life, only made me respect the guy more. Because he could make mistakes and admit to them. He was just an ordinary guy who happened to be a long dead Pharaoh...but he was so powerful, he'd become this legendary person, he'd saved the world for crying out loud! I remember Yugi's grandpa telling us once that people in Egypt, and in museums that they still tell stories about him. Of course, now that he had a name, now that the world knew that name, there were even more stories.

I loved listening to the stories, and I knew Yugi did too, everyone did, who didn't love a good hero story? But we loved the stories because we'd known the person, not just the king, we'd known the man, we'd known Atemu. And boy did we miss him.

And I get it, after 3,000 years the guy deserved some peace. I don't think I could've lasted that long in my own mind with no one to talk to, without knowing who I was...or anything about...well...anything. But he was a tough guy, he'd have to be to not go crazy after so long.

It was difficult to look back on everything, going right back to the beginning, and not see hie much of a jerk I'd been. A bully, a jerk, an idiot, a thug...every name like that, in short, I'd been the biggest jerk on the planet.

I'd never forgiven my self for it, I had been the guy who'd made Yugi's life a living hell, well me and Tristan...but still. And Yugi didn't even seem to care, he never had, neither had the Pharaoh. Yugi always said that when he put the puzzle together he wished for friends, I just didn't think...I never understood why...or how it picked unto be those friends. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it did, but I don't get why. Why pick me? Why Tristan? We'd bullied him! We'd made him a human punch bag and taunted him in every way we could, and yet still we became friends.

I learnt so many things from Yugi, and from the Pharaoh, in fact I don't think I'd ever be able to repay either of them...Let alone the 6 million in prize money they'd given me for Serenity's operation.

I wasn't the only one though, besides Tistan, Yugi had befriended Duke, heck, even I had befriended the guy after he was a jerk to us. So maybe I understood how Yugi felt. Duke was a good guy, he just got...well...he was stupid. But after we got over the whole thing everything seemed to fit, everything worked, he fit right into our group, our group that kept getting bigger.

The first time I ever saw Yugi I saw him as easy pickings; alone, friendless, small, that kind of thing, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Sure he'd been shy, but what right did that give me to do what I did. Of course in the end I'd made it up to him...at least I his mind, by getting back the piece of the puzzle I'd thrown out the window. That had been right after that beating he'd taken for us.

I'd never seen anything so brave in my life, and I'd spent most of it on the streets with all sorts of criminals. Criminals didn't do brave. I knew that now. Without them, both of them, I'd be another school drop out...or worse...

I still wasn't sure which one I owed everything good in my life too. Was it Yugi? The kid who'd took a beating for us after everything we'd done to him. Or was it the Pharaoh? The guy who'd always seemed so...otherworldly...so...unreachable, and could use magic like a magician or something.

Yugi hadn't put the puzzle together at first, so he'd always been brave, I guess the Pharaoh just helped him show it more. He gave Yugi the push he needed to be himself, at least that what Yugi told me once. I can't imagine always having another person in my head, someone else's thoughts in my mind, how weird would that be? But Yugi'd never seemed to mind it, in fact he missed it.

But this was what was best for the Pharaoh, and after all he'd done for us...for the whole world, his happiness was more important. How could we force him to stay here, trapped as a spirit for another 3,000 years? Like Teà said; it wouldn't be fair. It would be cruel.

We spent hours at the museum when the exhibit from his tomb came to Domino, we'd stayed till closing time, and then the next day, and the next day. I'd talked Serenity through our adventures and shown her his crown. The museum was even selling this with his name on them, cartouche necklaces, like the one Teà gave him...he would've laughed if he'd seen the gift shop.

Gramps had said that Egyptians took whatever they were buried with to the next life, and I sure hoped that was the case, whether the tomb had been opened or not. Atemu deserved to be happy...wherever he was. His name still sounded strange to me, but I guess that's 'cos it was so old and foreign.

There had been photos of his tomb at the museum, and boy was it big! It was huge, and the paint was still colourful. Gramps said it had been one of the biggest, and one of the best tombs ever found, in the world, not just in Egypt. The people that built it had clearly loved their king, Gramps had said, and wanted only best for him in the afterlife. And I say he deserved it, he'd earned it.

...But that didn't mean I still couldn't miss the guy, could it?

And it's not like we could ever tell anyone what he was really like; they'd think we were crazy. We couldn't ever tell anyone we'd seem him in his kingdom, we couldn't ever say we'd seem him beat the big ass lord of darkness himself a second time to save the world. They'd lock us up and throw away the key!

But I think Yugi was planning some sort of get together, to mark the first year without him, at least if he wasn't, I would. It was like a friend had just died, and you never forgot a friend. Ever. It was weird when I remembered that he'd been dead for years when we'd met him, he'd been dead for centuries when we'd become friends. Weird or what?

I'd never believed in ghosts, I'd never believed in magic or fate or friendship or any of that stuff before all this. But now I did, how could I not? Even Kaiba had been forced to admit that it was real...kind of, but he was still a jerk. Yugi had a long way to go to stop Kaiba from being the kind of jerk I'd been. But Yugi liked challenges.

The Pharaoh had never seemed to mind that Kaiba was a jerk, he considered the guy a friend...and so did Yugi. It was better to be a friend to them than a enemy...'cos they always won, they always pulled through, and they were good people. I don't know what I'd done to deserve such good friends, but even when we were old and grey, we'd still be friends.

I guess this was another of the Pharaoh's legacies, Gramps had said that; he'd said that the Pharaoh had two different legacies. The one left behind in Egypt, and the one he'd helped make here. The guy had saved the world but he'd made smaller changes too.

I guess Yugi had taught him to be humble, but what real use would a great king have had for that? With us, with Yugi, Atemu had learnt that you could change the world in smaller ways, Yugi told me that. He said that Atemu had changed our world...and Kaiba's world, and Mokuba's world, and even people like Siegfried and Leon's world.

I'd never've thought about it like that till Yugi told me.

I know that the Pharaoh'd had flaws like any other person, and yes he'd made mistakes too, but he had been a good guy. He wasn't some god appointed to rule on earth, he wasn't unbeatable, he wasn't immortal...he was human. Je was my friend, so...here's think of you, Atemu.

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A.N. I was thinking about doing a kind of mini-series, with the thoughts of other characters as well, let me know if you think I should bother!


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